I recently had the stock of a Smith & Wesson Gold Elite (a 20 ga. S x S) bent by Mike Orlen so that it now has a quarter inch of cast on. The gun was NIB. It left the factory was a quarter inch of cast off, for righties. From other threads in this forum, I know that the search for left-handed, or at least neutral, stocks on production guns is a constant issue. For me, this was the solution.

Here are the details.

Orlen is active on this website. He's the moderator of the gunsmithing forum, and offers a discount to forum members. The cost of having the stock bent was $95, plus shipping (both ways, of course), so my all in cost was just under $150.

I had no problem mailing the gun from my local post office or getting it back via UPS. Orlen is an FFL and a firearms repair business and apparently as the owner of a long gun I can use the U.S. mail to ship it for repair or modification. I have heard that some local postal personnel are unaware of that and can be troublesome. That wasn't my experience.

The work was professional, with a quick turnaround (about ten days, all in, including transportation from the West Coast to Massachusetts, and back). Our communication was completely satisfactory.

After bending, the stock did not require refinishing. As far as I can tell, the bending process had absolutely no effect on the factory 'satin' finish.

In short, I'm very happy with the work, the service and the cost and anyone who shoots off his left shoulder and has a gun worth putting a $150 into should seriously consider having the stock bent. It certainly solved my problem.

Did you guess at 1/4" or have you have a full gun fitting and found out that's what you needed? I've heard that Mike does good work. From what I've learned, bending a stock that doesn't have a pass-through bolt holding the stock to the receiver is easier than one that does have the bolt.

_________________Don

“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” ― Benjamin Franklin

I did not have a gun fitting. I simply had the factory cast off reversed. I saw my choices as a return to neutral, or replacement of the cast off with cast on and chose to make it a 'left handed' stock. So I guess you could say I guessed.

My four reasons for not getting a gun fitting--

1. Cost and logistics. That's self-explanatory. 2. Confidence. After exploring the topic a good bit, I concluded that gun fitting is more art than science, best combined with shooting instruction, and the satisfaction and confidence of the student/client in the outcome tended to be all over the map. 3. My own generally average body type, in terms of height, weigh, shoulders, arm length, etc. 4. Personal background--my professional shooting instruction was in the 1970s from a great of that era, a man named Grant Ilseng (whom, among others, Bob Brister idolized). Grant's mindset was that of the mid-20th century military small arms instructor. This was before stock bending (or gender bending, for that matter) became popular.

Back then you bent the man to the gun, not the gun to the man. You learn to get your cheek down on the comb and you didn't bruise. He flat told me that I wasn't good enough to need or rich enough to afford a custom fitted gun. And I didn't have any trouble getting my dominant eye in place over the comb or with gun mount.

If your curious, my problem was (and is, to this day) either riding the bird and shooting behind or trying to cure that by snap shoot (and shooting behind). You know, I've shot over, and I've shot under, and the Good Lord knows I've shot behind. But I don't think I've ever shot in front. Some day . . .

Back then you bent the man to the gun, not the gun to the man. You learn to get your cheek down on the comb and you didn't bruise. He flat told me that I wasn't good enough to need or rich enough to afford a custom fitted gun.

_________________Don

“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” ― Benjamin Franklin

Bending is a progressive strength exercise but it's not exactly progressive in the same way that weights are. There are significant progression styles, but some of the major jumps in strength levels of bending are pretty big.

Guess I'll be needing to contact Mike Orlen, I purchased a Dickinson SxS in 20 gauge - more or less the same gun as the S&W Gold Elite. Got mine by doing a trade-in of two RH SG's, some Cabela's points and charged the rest to the Cabela's card for some more points. So I guess I'll just tell him bend it the same as what Apachecadillac had done since I think I'm using the same shooting style - the missing at will style.

_________________Don

“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” ― Benjamin Franklin